I am going to replace a metal zipper in my son's shorts. Online, most posts I read say to remove the metal stops at the top of the zipper, remove teeth to make the desired length, cut off the tape and reinstall the metal stops. My zipper package says to whip-stitch across the bottom teeth at the desired length and then cut off the excess. Has anyone experience with both methods? The second seems like it would work fine. Any comments? Thank you, Linda

I have done both. The second method works great for a nylon coil zipper but honestly I think you would be better off using the first method for a metal zip as I'm not sure I trust the thread rubbing against the metal.

When I shortened my metal zipper I didn't bother replacing the stop at the top and it stayed in place fine. (It was for a pair of jeans so the waistband kept it closed.) Instead of going down the entire length of the zip from top to where I wanted it shortened (removing possibly dozens of teeth) I just started about an inch above where I wanted it to be shortened, bent the zip and yanked off a tooth in roughly that area, and trimmed the rest of the tape. Then I just removed what I needed in order to get it to the correct length. That way I had to take off no more than 15 teeth total. Cleaner's Supply sells special pliers for working with zippers. I don't think they cost more than $5.

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